Nitin Gadkari

Surface Transport & Shipping Minister

 

Date & year of birth: May 27, 1956

Consituency: Nagpur, Maharashtra

Whether represented the constituency before: No
Whether held ministerial charge earlier: No

Nitin Gadkari, the former BJP president, defeated seven-time MP and Congress veteran Vilas Muttemwar from the Nagpur constituency, which houses the RSS headquarters, in his debut Lok Sabha election.

Gadkari, who had to resign as party president in January 2013, in the wake of allegations over his Purti group of companies at a crucial juncture when he was seeking a second term, is now firmly back at the BJP high table. 

He started his 35-year political career as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and graduated to the RSS and then to the BJP. Till date, he is considered the Sangh’s “blue-eyed boy”.

Gadkari’s stint as the public works department (PWD) minister in the Maharashtra government from 1995 to 1999 is significant for his initiative in the infrastructure sector, most notably the Mumbai-Pune expressway. 

Gadkari brokered peace between sulking leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi on one side and Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh on the other.

A successful businessman, he is associated with several companies, co-operatives and sugar plants in Nagpur and the Vidharba region of Maharashtra. 

Gadkari is also credited to be the brain behind former prime minister A B Vajpayee’s Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. 
Anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania had levelled allegations of corruption against Gadkari. He now has clearly put all that behind him, as he starts a new innings as a Union Cabinet minister.